Shabdrung
Encyclopedia
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
the title almost always refers to Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651), the founder of the Bhutanese state, or one of his successive reincarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
s.
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal
The lineage traces through the founder of the country, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, a high Drukpa Kagyu lamaLama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
from Tibet who was the first to unify the warring valley kingdoms under a single rule. He is revered as the third most important figure behind Guru Rimpoche and the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal established the dual system of government
Dual system of government
The Dual System of Government or Cho-sid-nyi is the traditional diarchal political system of Tibetan peoples whereby the Desi coexists with the spiritual authority of the realm, usually unified under a third single ruler. The actual distribution of power between institutions varied over time and...
under the Tsa Yig
Tsa Yig
The Tsa Yig is any monastic constitution or code of moral discipline based on codified Tibetan Buddhist precepts. Every Tibetan monastery and convent had its own Tsa Yig, and the variation in Tsa Yig content shows a degree of autonomy and internal democracy....
legal code. Under this system, political power was vested in an administrative leader, the Druk Desi
Druk Desi
The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries...
, assisted by a collection of local governors or ministers called penlop
Penlop
Penlop is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain districts of the country, but now hold no administrative office...
s. A religious leader, the Je Khenpo
Je Khenpo
The Je Khenpo , formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog of Bhutan, which oversees the Central Monastic Body, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by lopons...
, held power over monastic affairs. Successive incarnations of the Shabdrung were to have ultimate authority over both spheres.
However, after the death of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1651, power effectively passed to the penlops instead of to a successor Shabdrung. In order to forestall a dynastic struggle and a return to warlordism, they conspired to keep the death of the Shabdrung secret for 54 years. During this time they issued orders in his name, explaining that he was on an extended silent retreat.
The passing of the Shabdrung is modernly celebrated as a Bhutanese national holiday
Public holidays in Bhutan
Public holidays in Bhutan consist of both national holidays and local festivals called tsechus. While national holidays are observed throughout Bhutan, tsechus are only observed in their areas. Bhutan uses its own calendar, a variant of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar. Because it is a lunisolar...
, falling on the 4th month, 10th day of the Tibetan calendar
Tibetan calendar
The Tibetan calendar is a lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year.The Tibetan New Year...
.
The Successive Shabdrungs
Eventually, the ruling authorities were faced with the problem of succession. To neutralize the power of future Shabdrung incarnations, the Druk Desi, Je Khenpo and penlops conspired to recognize not a single person but rather as three separate persons — a body incarnation (Ku tulkuTulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
), a mind incarnation (Thu tulku
Tulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
or Thugtrul), and a speech incarnation (Sung tulku
Tulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
or Sungtrul). In spite of their efforts to consolidate the power established by the original Shabdrung, the country sank into warring factionalism for the next 200 years. The body incarnation lineage died out in the mid-18th century, while the mind and speech incarnations of the Shabdrung continued into the 20th century. The mind incarnation was the one generally recognized as the Shabdrung.
Besides the mind incarnation, there was also a line of claimants for the speech incarnation. At the time the monarchy was founded in 1907, Choley Yeshe Ngodub (or Chogley Yeshey Ngodrup) was the speech incarnation and also served as the last Druk Desi. After his death in 1917, he was succeeded by Chogley Jigme Tenzin (1919–1949). The next claimant, unrecognized by the Bhutan government, lived at Tawang monastery in India and was evacuated to the western Himalayas during the 1962 Sino-Indian War
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
.
Another line of claimants to be mind incarnations of Ngawang Namgyal existed in Tibet, and is now represented by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is a Dzogchen teacher who was born in Derge, Kham district on 8 December 1938. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the 'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the great Dzogchen teacher, Adzom Drugpa , at five he was also recognized as a mindstream...
, who resides in Italy.
List of successive Shabdrungs
| Ruled | Name | Lived |
|---|---|---|
| 1616–1651 | Ngawang Namgyal | b. 1594 - d. 1651 |
| (gap) | ||
| 1698–1712 | Kunga Gyaltshen | b. 1689 - d. 1713 |
| 1712–1729 | Phyogla Namgyal | b. 1708 - d. 1736 |
| 1730–1735 | Jigme Norbu | b. 1717 - d. 1735 |
| 1735–1738 | Mipham Wangpo | b. 1709 - d. 1738 |
| 1738–1761 | Jigme Dragpa I | b. 1724 - d. 1761 |
| 1762–1788 | Choeki Gyaltshen | b. 1762 - d. 1788 |
| 1791–1830 | Jigme Dragpa II | b. 1791 - d. 1830 |
| 1831–1861 | Jigme Norbu | b. 1831 - d. 1861 |
| 1862–1904 | Jigme Chogyal | b. 1862 - d. 1904 |
| 1905–1931 | Jigme Dorji | b. 1905 - d. 1931 |
| 1939–1953 | Jigme Tendzin Chogay | b. 1939 - d. 1953 |
| 1955–2003 | Jigme Ngawang Namgyal | b. 1955 - d. 2003 |
| Pema Namgyel | b. 2003 |
Shabdrung deposed and exiled
In 1907, in an effort to reform the dysfunctional system, the penlops orchestrated the establishment of a Bhutanese monarchy with Ugyen WangchuckUgyen Wangchuck
Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck was the first King of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926.He was born in 1862 to Jigme Namgyal, penlop of Trongsa and Ashi Pema Choki. He succeeded his father as Penlop of Trongsa...
, the penlop
Penlop
Penlop is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain districts of the country, but now hold no administrative office...
of Trongsa
Trongsa
Trongsa, previously Tongsa , is a town and capital of Trongsa District in central Bhutan. The name means "new village" in Dzongkha. The first temple was built in 1543 by the Drukpa Kagyu lama, Ngagi Wangchuk, who was the great-grandfather of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the person who unified...
installed as hereditary king, with the support of Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and against the wishes of Tibet. The royal family suffered from questions of legitimacy in its early years, with the reincarnations of the various Shabdrungs posing a threat. According to one Drukpa source, the Shabdrung's brother Chhoki Gyeltshen (who had been to India) challenged the 1926 accession of King Jigme Wangchuck. He was rumored to have met with Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
to garner support for the Shabdrung against the King. The 7th Shabdrung, Jigme Dorji was then "retired" to Talo monastery
Nalanda bhutan
Nalanda Buddhist Institute, also known locally as Daley Goenpa or Dalida, is a Buddhist monastic school located in western part of Punakha Dzongkhag of the Kingdom of Bhutan, below Talo monastery and above Walakha. It is about 20 mins drive from the main highway to Punakha, before reaching...
and died in 1931, under rumors of assassination. He was the last Shabdrung recognized by Bhutan; subsequent claimants to the incarnation have not been recognized by the government.
In 1962, Jigme Ngawang Namgyal (known as Shabdrung Rimpoche to his followers) fled Bhutan for India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
where he spent the remainder of his life. Up until 2002, Bhutanese pilgrims were able to journey to Kalimpong, just south of Bhutan, to visit with the Master. On April 5, 2003, the Shabdrung died. Some of his followers claim he was poisoned, while kuensel took pains to explain he died after an extended bout with cancer.
In early 2007, reports alleged that the current Shabdrung, Pema Namgyel, who is a small child, has been held under house arrest in Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
along with his parents since 2005 after being invited to Bhutan from his home in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Note
Traditions state that Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was not in fact the first Shabdrung, that the lineage traces back farther in Tibetan history through Pema KarpoPema Karpo
Kunkhyen Pema Karpo was the fourth Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the most famous and learned of all the Gyalwang Drukpas...
.
External links
- Zimwock Tulku Lineage translated by Lama Choedak Rinpoche